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Lausanne, Switzerland, June 7, 2017 - With the clock ticking down to the first serve for the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in two months, the field continues to be finalized for one of the sport’s most prestigious events to take place July 28 through August 6 in Vienna on Danube Island featuring 48 pairs per gender vying for $1-million in prize purse.

With 21 countries determined earlier Wednesday on the entry list via host country and FIVB World Tour entry points berths (Men / Women), the international federation certified another 19 countries here on Wednesday afternoon via the confederation qualifying process for the 11th edition of the FIVB World Championships. The final three berths via wild card per gender will be announced before the end of the week.

From the 20 teams that qualified for the 2017 FIVB World Championships via the confederation process, three pairs and 10 players have competed in past Olympics led by Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States. A three-time Olympic and world champion, Walsh Jennings will be playing with 2008 Olympian Nicole Branagh after securing one of the four NORCECA nominations for the Vienna event. The United States will now have four women’s teams in the field.

The Walsh-Jennings/Branagh partnership is not new, but the two women have not played together since 2012 when the pair placed ninth at an event in Stare Jablonki, Poland. Overall, Branagh and Walsh Jennings have played in four FIVB World Tour events starting with a first-place finish at the 2008 Dubai Open followed by a fifth and first at 2010 stops China (Sanya) and Thailand (Phukett), respectively.

Two-time Polish Olympic Mariusz Prudel also gained a 2017 world championship berth after qualifying with Kujawiak Kacper. Grzegorz Fijalek, Prudel's partner at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games, will also be competing in Vienna with Michal Bryl as one of the three Polish pairs in the men’s competition.

Chen Xue, who captured the 2013 women’s World Championship with Xi Zhang in Stare Jablonki, returns to the 2017 with XinXin Wang as the second Chinese team. Xue and Zhang advanced to the final four at both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games with third- and fourth-place finishes, respectively.

Other women’s players with Olympic experience that qualified for the 2017 FIVB World Championships via the continental process are Australian Nicole Laird (AVC with partner Jessyka Ngauamo), Italian Marta Menegatti (CEV with Rebecca Perry) and Venezuelan Norisbeth Agudo (CSV with Gabriela "Gabi" Brito).

Three Russian women with Olympic experience also gained 2017 World Championship berths via the European confederation. Two of the Summer Games players will be competing together in Vienna - Anastasia Barsuk/Evgeniya Ukolova.Ekaterina Birlova, who teamed with Ukolova at both London and Rio Olympics, will be playing with Nadezda Makroguzova in the Austrian capital.

Here is the complete list of countries (players) gaining berths in the FIVB World Championships via confederation qualifying:

With Austria hosting the prestigious event for the second-time, the 2017 FIVB World Championships will be held at the state-of-the art Vienna Centre Court at Donauinsel with the focal point of the action and entertainment being held with a picturesque view of the Danube River and the lively atmosphere of the Beach Village.

As the Austrian capital will be staging its first-ever international Beach Volleyball event, the European country has been a fixture on the FIVB World Tour in Klagenfurt where the 2001 world championships where held as pairs from Argentina and Brazil topped the podium. Overall, Klagenfurt staged 18 men's and 14 women's FIVB World Tour stops the past three decades.